January 21, 2017 at 11:04 pm

The Bannerghatta Biological Park, Karnataka and The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA) – an international animal rights and conservation group joined hands on 29th January 2015 to create India’s first elephant sanctuary in a fenced forested space that allows elephants to move around freely within secure area.

This 49.5 hectare sanctuary within the Biological Park which is an extension of the Bannerghatta National Park, near Bengaluru will allow the herd to roam and bathe in ponds without being restricted with chains or without any human interference. It now houses more than 20 elephants.

While on the one hand this is a good move as the elephants do not to face man animal conflict and are in a safe protected zone. Elephants generally over the ages have their routes and corridors which are used by them regularly to move around in search of food and water bodies depending on the time of the year and the kind of weather conditions existing on a particular year. Drying up of water bodies and a bad monsoon  also leads  migrations  to take place. Hope they will get adjusted to this area as generally a large area is required for them to roam freely as the number of elephants is limited.

Hope this fencing will enable them to get the necessary food and water with the greenery there. So that they need not try to stray out of the fencing zone. If this herd is  used to moving on their corridors and migratory routes then chances are that they will try to do the same instinctively. The authorities would surely have foreseen this and made the necessary arrangements for such an event not to happen. As the size of the herd increases and more area is needed necessary arrangements or alternative solutions  have to be thought about.

If this proves successful this will be a great step for conservation and protection of elephants in India as several such areas are required all over the country for protecting the elephants from poachers, illegal wildlife traders, road and train accidents which keep happening regularly. This is a step in the right direction even though it is a bit restrictive as compared to the usual way where unrestricted movement of the elephants within the forest areas and the sanctuary’s  is there.

• This topic was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by  Krishna Kumar.

January 21, 2017 at 11:13 pm

Elephants are fascinating animals and are very intelligent. They are very social and have a leader of the herd too. The young ones are protected well by their mothers till they reach the age of two to three years as they are vulnerable at that time and need all the protection and grooming. During this period they learn the social skills and what they should know when they grow up to lead their lives safely.

They generally like eating shrubs, leaves and small branches of trees. The biggest problem for the elephants today is unfortunately its beautiful ivory tusk for which they are killed by poachers. They are also captured when they are young and sold to circuses worldwide and to religious places or to wildlife safari’s and hotels. Where they are forced against their will to do unwanted labor by humans. Humans are the biggest culprits and enemies who kill and torture wildlife.